1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to wireless systems, and more particularly to wireless locking devices, for example for controlling access to hotel rooms.
2. Description of Related Art
Multi-room or multi-suite facilities such as hotels, apartment buildings, office complexes, dormitories, office buildings, classrooms, cruise ships and laboratory facilities, and similar structures have many devices that, if monitored and/or controlled can provide functionalities in facility security, facility operational efficiency, and facility maintenance for the facility operator. These functionalities can generate an overall cost reduction in facility management and maintenance.
For example, hotels have adopted a variety of different check-in procedures to minimize the time required for a guest to check-in. These procedures include adopting electronic key cards as opposed to mechanical keys, which enhances guest security and allows the hotel to change to a new room key, alleviating the need for the guest to return the keys to the front desk at check-out. However, even these procedures still present a distracting delay to a hotel's valuable customers. To increase loyalty amongst frequent travelers, among others, hotel chains have developed rewards programs. The goal of these programs is typically to allow hotel chains to better understand the needs of travelers and make their stay as streamlined as possible. For instance, some hotels provide express check-in for a select set of their guests, while others provide check-in/check-out over the Internet or via a computer kiosk located in the hotel lobby. While these advances have certainly increased the occupancy rates of the various major hotel chains, they have not yet solved the problem of fully automating the guest check-in/check-out process, thereby allowing a guest to arrive at their hotel and enter their room without any additional time-consuming steps.
In addition to check-in/check-out, in a hotel room for example, individual rooms can utilize devices/elements such as doors, electronic locks, Do Not Disturb (DND) devices, lights, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), safe, minibar, draperies, maid communication devices, room occupancy detection and communication, and the like. All of these devices have a potentially high impact on the hotel operation and guest comfort. Should these devices/elements and/or the functionality associated with them connect online and communicate in relative real-time to the appropriate facility management department or monitoring system, many hours of labor can be saved, immediate response to possible threats or safety concerns can be executed, and service levels may be significantly enhanced. Prior systems have attempted to address solutions to some of the above concerns; however, these prior implementations tend to be limited in performance and expensive.
Another challenge is the fact that some devices, such as door locks, are mounted in a way that is not accessible by direct physical wiring. Such devices that cannot be directly accessed by wire typically require battery operation or a similar type of resident power source. Battery operation is expensive over time, particularly for a large facility. As a result, an efficient way to communicate with those devices is desirable.
Solutions for communicating with devices such as those that cannot be accessed by wires have predominately been addressed through combinations of wired connections, Infrared (IR) communication, or specific, highly localized, RF communication methods that are limited on an individual room-by-room basis. One such example is a network that provides communication capabilities with each individual room via dedicated wires, Cable TV, spare telephone wires or a LAN that is physically wired to each individual room. An in-room hub handles the communication to and from the devices in the room via wires where possible, or via IR. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,061,393, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, describes a system and method for managing a multi-unit building with the combination of IR and wired sensors in a room. Each room is then connected to a floor LAN, which is ultimately connected to management servers and systems.
The challenges facing implementation of a system that addresses the foregoing problems and shortcomings are that most facilities already exist and are operational. This ultimately means that a wired communication network is already in place and the implementation of another communication network would require the installation of a new wired network. The process of pulling wire is difficult, very expensive and usually requires the rotation of a number of rooms off line making them unusable for an extended period of time, which for retrofit impacts facility revenue.
One problem with implementing IR as a part of a wireless communication protocol is that the IR waves cannot penetrate walls or be used to communicate between rooms. In fact, it can be difficult to communicate in the same room around corners. In most instances, IR requires a direct unimpeded line of site between devices that are communicating. If these shortcomings are acceptable, dedicated, closed IR solutions can be implemented with a proprietary protocol, but such solutions are not very energy efficient due to the fact that all devices must be run continuously rather than intermittently. These solutions require an in-room hub and Gateway (GW) to communicate to a central server. In addition, installation of known existing systems requires persons of high skill and technical knowledge, resulting in high installation and on-going maintenance costs.
Such conventional methods and systems have generally been considered satisfactory for their intended purpose. However, there is still a need in the art for improved hospitality systems and the like. The present disclosure provides a solution for this need.